Event Details

On Saturday, Sept 5, the Music Program is offering a free recital of 20th century clarinet and piano music by Mannes College students Crystal Medina and SR alumna Manon Hutton-DeWys.

Their program includes works by Berg, Hindemith, Joan Tower, Ernst Krenek, and Elliott Carter.  

The program takes place on Saturday at 8 in the McConnell Auditorium. 

In the past year alone, pianist Manon Hutton-DeWys has given numerous solo recitals throughout the United States and has performed in some of classical music’s most prestigious venues, including Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall and the gorgeous Salle Cortot at the Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris. Of a recent performance Christian Carey of Musical America writes: “Hutton-DeWys did an admirable job creating legato lyricism in a solo line that resides amidst a tremendously active accompaniment. Her sensitive dynamic shadings and subtle use of rubato demonstrated an artist possessing a great deal of promise." An avid chamber musician and advocate of 20th and 21st century music, her repertoire ranges from Bach and Beethoven to Scriabin, John Cage, and William Bolcom.

Ms. Hutton-DeWys began her college education two years early, receiving her Associate of Arts degree from Simon’s Rock College at age 17 in 2003. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in music as a student of German Diez at Bard College in 2006, graduating with a perfect grade point average and a secondary concentration in psychology. In May of 2009 she graduated with her Master of Music degree in piano at Mannes College of Music as a student of Jerome Rose.

Ms. Hutton-DeWys was most recently named winner of the Young Artists’ Competition in conjunction with Keys to the Future, a festival for contemporary piano music in New York City. During her time at Bard College she was awarded the Dr. Richard M. Siegel Memorial Prize in music, the Reader’s Digest Foundation Scholarship, and the prestigious Margaret Creal Shaefer Memorial Prize in music, awarded by the Hudson Valley Chamber Music Circle. As a two-time winner of the Bard College Concerto Competition, she first appeared as a soloist with the Bard College Community Orchestra and later with Leon Botstein and the American Symphony Orchestra.

Ms. Hutton-DeWys has participated in a number of music festivals around the world including the International Keyboard Institute and Festival in New York City, The Rome Festival in Rome, Italy, and the Paris Piano Program at the Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris, France, each of which she attended as a scholarship student. She has performed in master classes and lessons for such world-renowned pianists as Alessio Bax, Richard Goode, Alexander Braginsky, Jeffrey Swann, Solomon Mikowsky, Leslie Howard, and Roy Howat.

Born in New York City and raised in the beautiful Hudson Valley, Ms. Hutton-DeWys works as a freelance pianist in New York City and is on the concert office staff at both The Juilliard School and Mannes College of Music. She is a fourth generation student of Franz Liszt through her former teacher German Diez, his teacher Claudio Arrau, and his teacher Martin Krause, who was a pupil of Liszt.

Equally at home with chamber and solo repertoire, clarinetist Crystal Gloria Medina has performed cross both coasts of the United States. A passionate solo, chamber, and orchestral musician she performs classical music of the past and the present. Ms. Medina has performed in some the most distinguished halls throughout New York City, such as Merkin Hall, Symphony Space, and Carnegie Hall garnering avid fans. She has made solo appearances with the Costa Contra Chamber Orchestra in celebration of Mozart's 250th Anniversary and with the UNC Greensboro Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Medina was also a fellow in the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival.

Ms. Medina is a strong advocator for new music and has performed with the TACTUS contemporary ensemble and has performed in CIRCE, the new music festival in Mannes College.

Her artistry has won her numerous awards. Crystal Medina is a two-time awardee of the 2007 and 2006 Lilian Fuchs Chamber Music Competition and winner of the Euterpe Club Music Competition for an unprecedented three times in a row. Other prizes include the Greensboro Music Teachers Association Competition and the UNC Greensboro Concerto Competition.

Not only is Ms. Medina an avid performer but she also enjoys presenting master classes, giving private lessons, and working as a teaching artist. Crystal Medina has received a Bachelor’s in Music Education from University of North Carolina at Greensboro under the direction of Dr. Kelly Burke.

Ms. Medina has worked with distinguished artist such as: David Krakauer, Ernst Ottensamer, Peter Schmidl, Frank Cohen, and Warren Jones. Crystal Medina has received her Master’s from Manhattan School of Music and Diploma from the Mannes College of Music under the tutelage of Charles Neidich and Ayako Oshima.